Compare SMC DA L 55-300mm with Tamron Adaptall 60-300 SP (with T/C)

**jawats** · 10-21-2018, 05:49 PM

I do not have a teleconverter for the Pentax, so I suppose the better comparison would have been to remove the t/c from the Tamron. However, I wanted to see how each turned out in crop, with the same Lightroom develop settings. Both were mounted on a tripod; both were taken with manual focus (the 55-300 had some difficulty with the moon on AF),

Below, the first image "IMGP1457" is the 55-300. The second "IMGP1472" is the 60-300. I think the 60-300 came out much clearer. If it is clear tomorrow night, I am planning to remove the teleconverter and compare again.

Attached Images

View Picture EXIF

View Picture EXIF

Glen · 10-21-2018, 06:07 PM - **1 Like**

That second image is definitely more clear.

KiloHotelphoto · 10-21-2018, 06:23 PM - **1 Like**

Second is definitely clearer and also doesn’t have the blue ring around it. They both look a little purple though.

Second look the second has a yellow ring around it.

stevebrot · 10-21-2018, 08:10 PM - **1 Like**

The Tamron 60-300 has a pretty solid reputation. I have seen some seriously amazing work done with that lens. I am looking forward to the second set of images done at the same magnification.

Steve

**marcusBMG** · 10-22-2018, 06:12 AM - **1 Like**

An interesting comparison, but need to compare like with like. Was the tc the 2x 01F? Your exif says 120mm for the 23A shot? My first guess is that you didn't quite nail focus with the DAL, mine is certainly of similar resolution to my 23A. However if the 23A was with a 2x tc then did you size up the DAL shot or size down the 23A shot?
I've tried doing moon shot comparisons and my conclusion is it's a ticklish and rarely conclusive game, with all the random factors affecting results: vibration, micro focus inaccuracies, atmospherics etc. Were you using live view to focus and a remote shutter release? I would always shoot RAW to be able to be sure of output consistency re white balance, sharpening and contrast and bit of oxposure tweaking if necessary. And stop down at least a stop.
If it remains clear here I'll chip in with my 23A (s)..

**jawats** · 10-22-2018, 07:42 AM

Originally posted by marcusBMG

An interesting comparison, but need to compare like with like. Was the tc the 2x 01F? Your exif says 120mm for the 23A shot? My first guess is that you didn't quite nail focus with the DAL, mine is certainly of similar resolution to my 23A. However if the 23A was with a 2x tc then did you size up the DAL shot or size down the 23A shot?
I've tried doing moon shot comparisons and my conclusion is it's a ticklish and rarely conclusive game, with all the random factors affecting results: vibration, micro focus inaccuracies, atmospherics etc. Were you using live view to focus and a remote shutter release? I would always shoot RAW to be able to be sure of output consistency re white balance, sharpening and contrast and bit of oxposure tweaking if necessary. And stop down at least a stop.
If it remains clear here I'll chip in with my 23A (s)..

Marcus,

The TC was the 01F (I'd love to get my hands on the other one). I took roughly 5 shots with autofocus on the DAL and 5 with manual. I did 7 shots or so with the Tamron, all (obviously) manual. For every shot, I used a 12-second delay time after pressing the shutter in order to minimize vibrations. I always use RAW for these comparisons. Both were stopped down to roughly F/11 for the initial moon shots - Looney 11 rule - Wikipedia. I then modified to try to get the clearest picture (you'll notice, of course, the DAL was at 5.8).

And yes, I upsized the DAL. Hence, my thought on the need to compare 300mm and 300mm tonight, assuming I get a clear sky.

**marcusBMG** · 10-22-2018, 08:04 AM - **1 Like**

Good technique.

Originally posted by jawats

I'd love to get my hands on the other one

Well I have an 014F spare actually hint hint ... and a couple of other 1.4x tc's in my for sale listing.

**jawats** · 10-22-2018, 08:18 AM

Originally posted by marcusBMG

Good technique.

Well I have an 014F spare actually hint hint ... and a couple of other 1.4x tc's in my for sale listing.

Oh very nice. At conversion rates and wife-happiness scale, I wouldn't be able to purchase any from you (or likely, any for awhile).

**jawats** · 10-22-2018, 05:12 PM

Okay - here are comparisons from tonight. Both lenses were mounted in the same place, at roughly the same time (60-300 was several minutes later), using 12-second timer, using auto (55-300) and manual focus (55-300; 60-300). I took at least 8 shots with each, then picked the two best based on visual inspection. Then, I exported them unedited. They are attached. Then I exported them edited - they are also attached.

**marcusBMG** · 10-29-2018, 04:04 PM

Well I thought I'd missed out on contributing a couple of moon shots when it was too cloudy and windy the other night, but coming back from a live transmission performance of Die Walkure yesterday there was a splendid rising moon in a clear windless sky. So though it was getting past my bedtime I lugged the tripod into the garden and took some shots.
I ran into a glitch. In live view the moon was just a washed out white ball - impossible to focus on. I knew what the problem was. OK now how to switch to spot metering on my K3.. Figured it out eventually (it's different to the K5 I had) but then when I pressed the button to get a magnified LV image "this feature is not available in this mode". Well darn, that's definitely a handicap for moon shots with this camera.
So I had to resort to the ovf, laboriously checking each image on the lcd for focus and adjusting for the next attempt. In the end it was the DAL 55-300mm that was most problematical due to its sticky mechanics and the infinity being short of the end stop. The tokina ATX 100-300mm f4 was easy due to an accurate end stop, the two 23A's were also, to my surprise, not on infinity at the end stop but a bit before. I could have tried a different adaptall mount.
Jpg's exported from LR with consistent, essentially default, PP settings apart from exposure, which I had to adjust a stop + on the 23A images. I put the aperture ring on F8, camera in manual mode, so actual f stop at 300mm would have been ~ f12 (23A is f3.5 at 60mm, f5.4 at 300mm wide open), and calculated the shutter accordingly but the shots were still underexposed. Tokina ATX 100-300mm on f11, DAL 55-300mm on f10. All full sized 1:1 crops.

DAL 55-300mm @ 300mm

DAL 55-300mm @ 260mm. My lens doesn't show any noticeable falloff in IQ 260mm > 300mm.

23A #1

23A #2

Tokina ATX 100-300mm

There's not a lot of difference in these results, all 3 of these lenses are pretty decent. If anything I tend to favour the tokina.
I just checked to see if the white balance numbers offer any insight into the different tone, but no the numbers in LR are the same for all the images. Curious that the one 23A in particular has a significantly warner tone.

**jawats** · 10-30-2018, 06:16 AM

Originally posted by marcusBMG:

There's not a lot of difference in these results, all 3 of these lenses are pretty decent. If anything I tend to favour the tokina.
I just checked to see if the white balance numbers offer any insight into the different tone, but no the numbers in LR are the same for all the images. Curious that the one 23A in particular has a significantly warner tone.

In looking at the 55-300, it seems out of focus, or perhaps there is some motion blur. Both shots seem unclear to me. And that was before I actually looked to see which was which. The Tokina actually seems the best of them to me, as well.

**marcusBMG** · 10-30-2018, 07:32 AM

Does your K3 behave the same as mine re Live View jawats, or am I missing something.

Originally posted by jawats

it seems out of focus, or perhaps there is some motion blur

It's always possible for focus inaccuracies to creep in. A mitigating factor with moon shots is that focusing at infinity is the most forgiving of inaccuracies, and stopping down will bring small inacuracies within the hyperfocal zone.
I used MLU and a cable release.

**jawats** · 10-31-2018, 03:44 PM

Originally posted by marcusBMG

Does your K3 behave the same as mine re Live View jawats, or am I missing something.

I use live-view to line up the shot, but then rarely use it for focusing purposes. The moon is usually so bright in the screen that I do not find it very good at focusing. Of course, once I get it focused, I could switched to MLU.

Quote:

It's always possible for focus inaccuracies to creep in. A mitigating factor with moon shots is that focusing at infinity is the most forgiving of inaccuracies, and stopping down will bring small inacuracies within the hyperfocal zone.
I used MLU and a cable release.

I should try a cable release for these. I've never tried.

**marcusBMG** · 10-31-2018, 04:00 PM

Originally posted by jawats

I should try a cable release for these. I've never tried.

Timer works too, but you must assume that touching the camera may impart vibration/movement.

**jawats** · 11-01-2018, 06:12 AM

Originally posted by marcusBMG

Timer works too, but you must assume that touching the camera may impart vibration/movement.

Very true. I found that 12s on the timer is usually enough to stop most vibrations. However, a cable release AND a timer AND MLU might do even better. Next time I get a full moon - which I think will be around the end of November - I'm going to try some combination of these.

10-29-2018, 04:04 PM	#10
marcusBMG Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Wales Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,868	Moon shots with DAL 55-300mm, Tamron 23A SP 60-300mm, Tokina ATX 100-300mm Well I thought I'd missed out on contributing a couple of moon shots when it was too cloudy and windy the other night, but coming back from a live transmission performance of Die Walkure yesterday there was a splendid rising moon in a clear windless sky. So though it was getting past my bedtime I lugged the tripod into the garden and took some shots. I ran into a glitch. In live view the moon was just a washed out white ball - impossible to focus on. I knew what the problem was. OK now how to switch to spot metering on my K3.. Figured it out eventually (it's different to the K5 I had) but then when I pressed the button to get a magnified LV image "this feature is not available in this mode". Well darn, that's definitely a handicap for moon shots with this camera. So I had to resort to the ovf, laboriously checking each image on the lcd for focus and adjusting for the next attempt. In the end it was the DAL 55-300mm that was most problematical due to its sticky mechanics and the infinity being short of the end stop. The tokina ATX 100-300mm f4 was easy due to an accurate end stop, the two 23A's were also, to my surprise, not on infinity at the end stop but a bit before. I could have tried a different adaptall mount. Jpg's exported from LR with consistent, essentially default, PP settings apart from exposure, which I had to adjust a stop + on the 23A images. I put the aperture ring on F8, camera in manual mode, so actual f stop at 300mm would have been ~ f12 (23A is f3.5 at 60mm, f5.4 at 300mm wide open), and calculated the shutter accordingly but the shots were still underexposed. Tokina ATX 100-300mm on f11, DAL 55-300mm on f10. All full sized 1:1 crops. DAL 55-300mm @ 300mm DAL 55-300mm @ 260mm. My lens doesn't show any noticeable falloff in IQ 260mm > 300mm. 23A #1 23A #2 Tokina ATX 100-300mm There's not a lot of difference in these results, all 3 of these lenses are pretty decent. If anything I tend to favour the tokina. I just checked to see if the white balance numbers offer any insight into the different tone, but no the numbers in LR are the same for all the images. Curious that the one 23A in particular has a significantly warner tone. Last edited by marcusBMG; 10-31-2018 at 03:59 PM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Adaptall - Tamron SP 60-300: Adapter Not Tight to Body...	jawats	Troubleshooting and Beginner Help	8	06-05-2018 07:25 PM
For Sale - Sold: Tamron Adaptall-2 SP 60-300mm f/3.8-5.4 (23A) & Tamron Adaptall PKA, PK/A Lens M	plunkstar	Sold Items	2	04-25-2018 02:06 AM
Tamron SP 60-300 f3.8-5.6 or smc-fa 100-300 f4.7-5.8?	malenisjaj	Pentax SLR Lens Discussion	12	02-26-2014 06:14 PM
Tamron SP Adaptall 2 60-300mm vs Tamron LD 70-300mm	Jewelltrail	Pentax SLR Lens Discussion	15	03-18-2009 11:31 AM

10-21-2018, 06:07 PM - 1 Like	#2
Glen Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 329	That second image is definitely more clear.

10-21-2018, 06:23 PM - 1 Like	#3
KiloHotelphoto Pentaxian Join Date: Jan 2015 Location: Glen Mills, PA Photos: Albums Posts: 1,027	Second is definitely clearer and also doesn’t have the blue ring around it. They both look a little purple though. Second look the second has a yellow ring around it.

10-21-2018, 08:10 PM - 1 Like	#4
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	The Tamron 60-300 has a pretty solid reputation. I have seen some seriously amazing work done with that lens. I am looking forward to the second set of images done at the same magnification. Steve

10-22-2018, 06:12 AM - 1 Like	#5
marcusBMG Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Wales Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,868	An interesting comparison, but need to compare like with like. Was the tc the 2x 01F? Your exif says 120mm for the 23A shot? My first guess is that you didn't quite nail focus with the DAL, mine is certainly of similar resolution to my 23A. However if the 23A was with a 2x tc then did you size up the DAL shot or size down the 23A shot? I've tried doing moon shot comparisons and my conclusion is it's a ticklish and rarely conclusive game, with all the random factors affecting results: vibration, micro focus inaccuracies, atmospherics etc. Were you using live view to focus and a remote shutter release? I would always shoot RAW to be able to be sure of output consistency re white balance, sharpening and contrast and bit of oxposure tweaking if necessary. And stop down at least a stop. If it remains clear here I'll chip in with my 23A (s)..

10-22-2018, 07:42 AM	#6
jawats Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2017 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 756 Original Poster	Originally posted by marcusBMG An interesting comparison, but need to compare like with like. Was the tc the 2x 01F? Your exif says 120mm for the 23A shot? My first guess is that you didn't quite nail focus with the DAL, mine is certainly of similar resolution to my 23A. However if the 23A was with a 2x tc then did you size up the DAL shot or size down the 23A shot? I've tried doing moon shot comparisons and my conclusion is it's a ticklish and rarely conclusive game, with all the random factors affecting results: vibration, micro focus inaccuracies, atmospherics etc. Were you using live view to focus and a remote shutter release? I would always shoot RAW to be able to be sure of output consistency re white balance, sharpening and contrast and bit of oxposure tweaking if necessary. And stop down at least a stop. If it remains clear here I'll chip in with my 23A (s).. Marcus, The TC was the 01F (I'd love to get my hands on the other one). I took roughly 5 shots with autofocus on the DAL and 5 with manual. I did 7 shots or so with the Tamron, all (obviously) manual. For every shot, I used a 12-second delay time after pressing the shutter in order to minimize vibrations. I always use RAW for these comparisons. Both were stopped down to roughly F/11 for the initial moon shots - Looney 11 rule - Wikipedia. I then modified to try to get the clearest picture (you'll notice, of course, the DAL was at 5.8). And yes, I upsized the DAL. Hence, my thought on the need to compare 300mm and 300mm tonight, assuming I get a clear sky.

10-22-2018, 08:04 AM - 1 Like	#7
marcusBMG Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Wales Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,868	Good technique. Originally posted by jawats I'd love to get my hands on the other one Well I have an 014F spare actually hint hint ... and a couple of other 1.4x tc's in my for sale listing.

10-22-2018, 08:18 AM	#8
jawats Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2017 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 756 Original Poster	Originally posted by marcusBMG Good technique. Well I have an 014F spare actually hint hint ... and a couple of other 1.4x tc's in my for sale listing. Oh very nice. At conversion rates and wife-happiness scale, I wouldn't be able to purchase any from you (or likely, any for awhile).

10-30-2018, 06:16 AM	#11
jawats Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2017 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 756 Original Poster	Originally posted by marcusBMG: There's not a lot of difference in these results, all 3 of these lenses are pretty decent. If anything I tend to favour the tokina. I just checked to see if the white balance numbers offer any insight into the different tone, but no the numbers in LR are the same for all the images. Curious that the one 23A in particular has a significantly warner tone. In looking at the 55-300, it seems out of focus, or perhaps there is some motion blur. Both shots seem unclear to me. And that was before I actually looked to see which was which. The Tokina actually seems the best of them to me, as well.

10-30-2018, 07:32 AM	#12
marcusBMG Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Wales Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,868	Does your K3 behave the same as mine re Live View jawats, or am I missing something. Originally posted by jawats it seems out of focus, or perhaps there is some motion blur It's always possible for focus inaccuracies to creep in. A mitigating factor with moon shots is that focusing at infinity is the most forgiving of inaccuracies, and stopping down will bring small inacuracies within the hyperfocal zone. I used MLU and a cable release.

10-31-2018, 03:44 PM	#13
jawats Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2017 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 756 Original Poster	Originally posted by marcusBMG Does your K3 behave the same as mine re Live View jawats, or am I missing something. I use live-view to line up the shot, but then rarely use it for focusing purposes. The moon is usually so bright in the screen that I do not find it very good at focusing. Of course, once I get it focused, I could switched to MLU. Quote: It's always possible for focus inaccuracies to creep in. A mitigating factor with moon shots is that focusing at infinity is the most forgiving of inaccuracies, and stopping down will bring small inacuracies within the hyperfocal zone. I used MLU and a cable release. I should try a cable release for these. I've never tried.

10-31-2018, 04:00 PM	#14
marcusBMG Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: North Wales Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,868	Originally posted by jawats I should try a cable release for these. I've never tried. Timer works too, but you must assume that touching the camera may impart vibration/movement.

11-01-2018, 06:12 AM	#15
jawats Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2017 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 756 Original Poster	Originally posted by marcusBMG Timer works too, but you must assume that touching the camera may impart vibration/movement. Very true. I found that 12s on the timer is usually enough to stop most vibrations. However, a cable release AND a timer AND MLU might do even better. Next time I get a full moon - which I think will be around the end of November - I'm going to try some combination of these.

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
	Search this Thread: Advanced Search